Alienware 17(r5) Bios and GPU Options

Hey guys,

Just wanted to check to see if anyone had any additional info on something I've been looking into the last couple of days.

I'm looking at an Alienware 17 and wondered if anyone has the specific bios info on what gpu's are supported in the factory bios or if anyone else realeased an unlocked bios that could have additional cards added. I know Dell used to lock the Bios by putting in strings for supported graphics cards and even used to release the info on which ones were but have been unable to find it.

I'm considering putting a 7970 into one of the 17's as I do a lot of 3d rendering and cad for my job and the data I was able to find shows the 770m/780m getting murdered in cad and rendering apps when compared to the 7970.

Any info would be amazing!

Thanks!

 

The Alienware 17 is meant to work on nVidia GFX. Trying that could damage the board. Haven't seen many users with the 7970m on an Alienware 17.

 

I understand it was made for the Nvidia gfx, the cards I'm looking at fit the heatsink and MXM slot just fine, I'm now looking at the 8970m as well. My concern is if it will actually function given modded drivers, really disappointed that again AW has offered nothing but Nvidia on this rev yet again. Nvidia stomps AMD on gaming for this tier but not everyone that buys one of these machines is after straight gaming, AMD walks all over Nvidia in professional apps like cad and rendering by as much as 90% performance.

I'm guessing AW has chosen to go this route due to the almighty dollar, the cost difference between a 7970m/8970m and their Nvidia counterparts the 680m/780m is roughly 200%. If AW were to open their spectrum by something as simple as another GPU option you'd also open your market share that much more just a thought.